Waking Up in Xing
by OrochimaruSaysCookies
Summary: Claudia DuVal wakes up in a foreign country. Not that she knows that. She doesn't know anything. But memories are rushing back, small chunks at a time, most of them completely useless. If only she could remember what "alchemy" was. No pairings


**A/N I will be changing the name of the character because apparently there are a lot of stories with Alice Walkers already and that's annoying... Also I forgot to edit this chapter and I actually don't have the time at the moment, so updates and edits after I'm done exams, yay! :)**

**Peace~**

Alice walked through the unfamiliar streets, not sure of where she was heading, not sure of when she'd get there. All she knew was that she was in a foreign country with some sort of goal. She was only starting to get her memories back, so she still wasn't sure of where she was, how she got there, or the goal in mind. But it was all coming back quickly enough. So far she'd managed to get some clues as to who she was, at least.

_"Class, we have a new student. Please introduce yourself."_

_Said new student nervously shuffled to the front of the class, head down, slightly hunched. She normally wasn't this shy, but it was a new school in a new town and just out of her comfort zone._

_"H-hi, I'm..." her voice caught, and she started again: "I'm Alice Walker, I just moved here from Hartiore..." she said. She was still nervous, but she'd managed to say it at a decent volume and clearly. A couple of the really friendly kids said hi back, as she made her way back to her seat at the front-left corner of the room (she liked it because it was far from the door at the right and the coat hooks at the back, so no one would be likely to bother her there)._

So her name was Alice Walker, and her hometown was probably some place called Hartiore. It was a start. A few minutes later, after she found some strange currency in her pocket and was trying to figure out if she could afford food or not, she had another possibly useful flashback.

_"Hey...Hey, Alice...ALICE!" Tom whispered, poking Alice's shoulder with his ruler._

_"WHAT?" she whispered back finally, looking at him from the corner of her eye._

_"Wanna-" _

_"TOM, I told you, stop talking during class!" scolded the teacher... again._

_A minute later he nudged Alice. She decided she was going to go back to ignoring him, when a folded up paper landed on her desk, where she'd been doodling weird circles._

_She sighed and discreetly unfolded the note under her desk; _

_Wanna join our club?_

_She blinked. Since when did people invite _her_ to stuff? It might have been a joke or something, but she wrote back anyway._

_What club? Maybe_

_An alchemy club_

_Who's in it_

_All the smart kids. Thats why I asked you_

_Kids who can actually do alchemy? Are they our age?_

_Theyre our age. And we're learning still..._

_Alice frowned at it. Her aunt told her that alchemy was dangerous in the wrong hands, and she didn't figure the hands of goofy eight-and-nine-yar-olds were anywhere near being the right ones._

_How_

_Marco's dad's an alchemist, he has a lot of books_

_She knew Marco. He was a little quiet nerd who's lunch consequentialy got stolen every day, only keeping him littler and quieter. Alice had tried to defend him once, but it turned out that even someone like him could be a jerk. He'd given some bully his lunch to spare himself from being "saved by a girl". Someone had probably convinced him to take his dad's alchemy things... _

_There was still one question nagging at her mind._

_Why are you learning alchemy?_

_Why not?_

_...Well, she assumed that meant everyone had their reasons. Alice thought about it for a bit, then sighed. She'd loved alchemy when she was younger, but then she'd moved in with her aunt, who wouldn't let her anywhere near anything even remotely alchemy related. She didn't tell Alice why, either, and Alice knew it was dangerous somehow. But... _

_Talk after class_

By then Alice had also figured out the currency, partially from memory and partially from reading price signs in shop windows. She had close to enough for whatever the stand across the street was selling. She couldn't read what it was, but it smelled good... especially with an empty stomach. It smelled familiar, too.

Digging through her pockets for more coins, she went over her memories again. What was alchemy? Something important? She was sure it was a key... Did she ever find out why she wasn't supposed to do it? Did she join the club? The holes in her knowledge were frustrating, but she was relieved when she took off and tipped her shoe and a couple coins spilled out. _Yes!_ She jumped up from the step she'd been sitting on and speedwalked across the empty street toward the stand.

After managing to buy some of the foreign food despite the language barrier (it turned out to be sweet and warm and soft and delicious), she went back to wandering and wondering, and steadily recovering her memory.

_"Why can't you listen to me? Why must you disobey your aunt? I was so kind as to take you in after your mother died, I've tried my best to keep you out of trouble, and this is what I get?"_

_"Aunt Mary, I know why you don't want me to do this, but I promise I won't make any mistakes like that!"_

_"Words, words, words! They're meaningless!"  
>"Aunt Ma-"<br>"Out."_

_"What?"_

_"I will not have a disobedient child in this house. Get out." Alice hesitated, hardly believing her sweet and kind eccentric little aunt and caregiver would do this to her... _

_"OUT!"_

_She never saw her again._

"Hm. Must have been a fun childhood... My mother died? I wonder about my dad..." Alice thought aloud, turning another corner.

_Someone shook Alice's shoulder._

_"Sorry, miss, the library closes soon. You'll have to find somewhere else to sleep..." said a librarian. A paper un-stuck itself from her cheek as she raised her head from the table to look at him sleepily. _

_"Sorry..." she mumbled, gathering up her notes and books and getting up. She dropped them in her bag and slung it over her shoulder, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair and draping it over her shoulder as well._

_She made her way to the nearest bench and put her bag at one end for a pillow, keeping her few clothes at the top and the books at the bottom. She yawned and stretched, still groggy from her mid-research nap, and curled up on the hard wood of the bench, covering herself with the jacket and keeping her hand in the pocket with the gun she kept for safety. Yawning one last time, she fell asleep._

Alice looked at the building-tops, glowing from the sun setting behind them. It was going to be dark soon, and she still knew next to nothing. Sighing, she decided to find somewhere to sleep.

Tossing the wrapper of her food in a rubbish bin, she sucked the sticky-sweet sauce off her fingers and looked around for a bench.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Ummm can't decide on a name. Love and cookies will be given to anyone who comments, and maybe soe help with the name? ^_^' Eheheh... Anyway first name'll be either Georgia or Claudia surname either DuVal or Ripley... Naming her after other alchemists c: **

**wikipedia****.org/wiki/Claude_Duval**

****wikipedia**.org/wiki/George_Ripley_(Alchemist)**

**I shall update within te week! (maybe/hopefully/plzgodplz)**

**Sankyuu so berry much for reading (and commenting, righ? ^^)!**

**~OrochiSezCookies~**


End file.
